The Two Mr. Kissels (2008) John Stamos, Robin Tunney, Anson Mount, Gretchen Egolf, Chuck Shamata Movie Review

The Two Mr. Kissels (2008)   2/52/52/52/52/5


The Two Mr. Kissels (2008)

Kissel Killing

Once upon a time there were two wealthy brothers; Robert Kissel (Anson Mount - Safe) who was driven by business and his more fun loving brother, Andrew (John Stamos - Wedding Wars). Whilst Robert's career was on an upward trajectory he married Nancy (Robin Tunney - Hollywoodland) who loved spending his money more than she loved him, which is how when she fell for a cable repair guy it lead to a series of tragic events. Andrew having always been in his brother's shadow when it came to business married a woman who loved him but it didn't stop him ending up addicted to cocaine and a womanizing con artist which ends up leading to another series of tragic events.

Right off the bat I have to tell you that the people who made "The Two Mr. Kissels" made one huge mistake, they may have made more but there is one serious mistake. That mistake is taking it for granted that the audience already know the true story and so know who Robert and Andrew Kissell were. As such after a brief opening scene we go through what feels little more than a sprint through decadence as we see Robert meet the narcissistic Nancy who loves spending his money and then Andrew meets his wife, all the time we have more money spending, big houses, fast cars and so on. But there is no real depth to this, no explanation of who the Kissels were and how for example the brothers really felt about each other.

The knock on effect of this decision to ignore building up the back story and characters is that it is hard to get into "The Two Mr. Kissels" till it starts to focus on the main story, which of course is their murders. Now to be honest like the first half of the movie the handling of the murders and what follows is all about the look rather than what happened and why. It probably works for those who watch already knowing about the murders through the news when they happened but again as someone who watches this with no knowledge it all ends up hard work.

The one thing which "The Two Mr. Kissels" has going for it as John Stamos and Anson Mount both have the looks of two brothers raised in money. They also deliver the confidence and slickness of men who have been raised to go after what they want and expect those around them to go along with what they say. But whilst they deliver the performances there is no depth to their characters.

What this all boils down to is that "The Two Mr. Kissels" didn't work for me for the simple reason that this movie was made for an audience who already knew all about the Kissels and what happened to them. But for those who don't know the story this ends up hard work to fully understand the characters, motivations and issues.


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